Last time I seriously played bass was when I was 10 years old. Played for 3 years straight, then after that just lost interest. 15 years later, I watched Beck. Just watched Koyuki's steady practice and determination to learn the guitar. I just felt inspired to play again.

Sold my POS Steinberger clone and bought a Squier Vintage modified J-bass(>$300 for a great sounding bass) just to get some practice . A few months later, I bought a Music Man HH Stingray and a Gibson Les Paul Studio. I have a hard time putting either instrument down after I've picked one up. Great fun.

All I can say is that I hope people are at least buying the correct version (left hand vs right hand) rather than just the left hand because Mio uses it. That way there's at least a little hope of them actually using it.

Btw, guitar > bass. Just to let you know. I mean, speed-picking is pretty hardcore. Chords aren't all that.

There's no way any of them will actually take up guitar. They'll probably play with it for a week and just toss it aside. I can't even imagine a anime nerd taking guitar lessons. So sad that grown people get influenced to buy stuff from cartoons, especially something as expensive as a guitar. Jimi Hendrix must be rolling in his grave.

Nonetheless, it's a derogatory term. Just wanted to point out that if one calls themselves an "otaku", it's no different from calling yourself a nerd, felt like pointing it out because there are people who argue that it isn't the equivalent of being called a nerd. I figure they think that otakus aren't considered nerds in Japan or something....(they are)

The American one is $1500! The Japanese version is a bargain in comparison. You can get the cheaper Mexican-made one for $650, but it won't have the tortoiseshell pickguard, so you might as well not bother.

I, for one, bought a Casio CA-110 Keyboard ( http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/_inc/picview.cfm?synthid=931 ) because of K-ON. It was cheap overall, and also a very good keyboard for a total beginner like me.
At first, I thought first buying a bass (yeah, cos of Mio), but since I realised that it would be less fun and difficult playing it, I picked up the keyboard (plus I love Mugi's yurisness).
So far I can play FFVII, Evangelion, and Elfen Lied main songs, Fur Elise, and the Futurama OP... I really do not see how this cannot be be "healthy", since otherwise, I would be probably playing some eroge RPG and jacking off to it.

Bet all those otakus who bought the Fenders don't realise that they do not have amps. Then they'll go: "Where's the sound"?
Even if they did buy amps, they probably bought an amp for electric guitars.
Smart.

Guitar is difficult to learn from scratch, it's actually really important to have a teacher, or a guide at the beginning, but after that it's best to just jam with other musicians and build your own style.

I play guitar and man, there's nothing like shredding on my les paul, and shifting over to a rhythm on my dano dc-12. I've only had three months formal lessons, everything else I"ve sussed out on my own and by playing in my band.

The point it, while it's fun, while it's a cool thing to do, these idiot otaku won't have anywhere near the obsession to keep going. Or the money. Fuckin' amps man, but lemme tell you, theres nothing better than a marshall stack.

This happens to me all the time. Watching an anime makes me want stuff related to the show. Like when I read Hikaru no go, I became obsessed with Go. I wonder if I'll get hooked on Mahjong since I'm watching Saki. Probably not since there's almost no Mahjong in Saki. Mostly fan service, just the way I like it. Anyway, I wouldn't buy a guitar but I have an urge to play guitar hero after watching K-on.

There's more Mahjong in Saki compared to fanservice then there is Music in K-On compared to moeblob moments, that's for damn sure. You must be watching different versions of these two shows or something cause from what I saw K-On's biggest problem as a "music anime" is that there's barely any music.

That's what makes this whole guitar boom thing so hilarious. The fact that Otaku have again been successfully bait and switched into buying a product that is only suggestively related to the show in question because said show carries the ever popular moe trend that 2ch will probably never get tired of.

I don't even think it owes to specified classical conditioning though so much as the ingrained tendencies of the Otaku subculture making it effortless for advertisers to suggest the link between guitars and moe by merely presenting a guitar as a premise behind the series without having to show it's merits and letting otaku desires do the rest of the work for them. It's the same premise as putting a model next to a car really. What does this model have to do with the expensive car? Nothing, but people will confuse the link between wanting to boink the model and wanting to buy the car just the same because of the way the human brain is wired and the subconcious knowing what response is desired of them.

Oh and I should also mention that Japanese culture is big on group mentalities and doing what is expected of someone and as such even if they come to the conclusion that all of this is set up for them to go out and buy a guitar then they will be far more likely to do so anyway then people of other cultures that place emphasis on the individual and where people are more likely to make the decision that although it is expected that they go out and buy the guitar, that they don't want one just because it appeared in some show they like along.

I don't believe I ever said there was music in K-On! I never said it was a music anime. It's a slice of life anime about the light music club. I personally like slice of life anime and wouldn't have it any other way. As for Saki, I was saying that as a joke about Saki's obvious fan service(which I like).

Except that K-On! is based on a 4koma manga which it has been following with almost 100% accuracy until now. I highly doubt that Kakifly had boosting guitar sales in mind when drawing the manga. If you're going to blame someone for something, blame the otaku for mistaking the show's premise.